It’s been a few days since I watched Food Network’s newest program “The 100 Mile Challenge” and yet there’s some lingering thoughts that the concept of the show has brought to mind. For those who didn’t watch it, the premise of the show is following a group of families who have volunteered to only eat produce that was grown/bred within a hundred mile radius of their home for a period of 100 days. To give you an idea of what this implies, for those living in North America, this would mean no coffee, no sugar, and no chocolate to name just a few. Although there are tangible benefits to such an approach to food consumption, there is an interesting sociological implication that arises from this in regards to what our society’s relationship with food might be down the road. But before I get into that, let’s look at this concept and the benefits it derives.

The idea behind this show stems from the “100 Mile Diet” experiment created by Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon in 2005 where they only consumed locally grown food for a whole year. While they took this on as a personal challenge, it has since become a source of inspiration for others in taking a closer look at what they were eating and especially where it came from. As the plan’s creators pointed out during the premiere episode of “The 100 Mile Challenge”, there are numerous advantages to taking on such a lifestyle approach to what foods we eat, such as supporting the local economy by purchasing Click here to continue reading »”Food Network’s 100 Mile Challenge – A return to simpler times?”